Interested in seeing the highlights of HSBC Greater Bay Area (GBA) ESG Index 2023 Q1 report?
HSBC Greater Bay Area ESG Index
Back to Bridging the GBA, Spanning the GlobeGBA's first ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) index, launched by HSBC last year, has been used to track progress of ESG movement within the area.
The first ESG index of the GBA in the market.
A combination of macro and micro methodologies that is internationally aligned, and locally adapted.
Evaluating and tracking the GBA’s sustainable development.
Inaugural ESG Index in GBA
As one of China's most open and economically vibrant areas, the GBA’s Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area includes green development, improving people's livelihoods as sustainable development concepts and more. HSBC has released the first GBA ESG Index in Q4 2022 to effectively reflect the status and improvement directions of sustainable development in the GBA.
Developed in partnership with CECEP Environmental Consulting Group Limited, a consultancy specialising in sustainable management as well as green and sustainable finance, the HSBC GBA ESG Index provides holistic insights into the area’s sustainable development.
The GBA ESG Index uses a combination of macro and micro methodologies and is updated quarterly. As well as the main GBA ESG Regional Index, a number of sub-indices are compiled, including City Sub-indices, Industry Sub-indices and Sub-indices by company size. The GBA ESG Index aims to objectively reflect and track the GBA’s sustainable development and its ESG.
From a macro perspective, we analyse the region, cities and industrial characteristics from five areas, namely policy, environment, economic and social development, corporate governance, and green and sustainable finance. The ESG performance of companies is evaluated from a micro perspective using the following five first-level indicators: environmental, social, governance, green and sustainable finance and external assurance. To these an adjustment indicator, ESG reputation, is added which takes negative or controversial ESG events into consideration.
The high-value manufacturing capabilities of the GBA and various government measures in sustainable developments have created a favorable environment for the green finance market and contributed to the steady ESG development in the region.
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Q1 2023 Key Highlights
Adjustments in COVID-related policies and the implementation of multiple economic support measures have had positive impact on economic and social development of the GBA over the past six months.
Municipal governments in the GBA have been actively promoting manufacturing industry upgrading and implementing sustainable development measures, driving up corporate needs for products and services of green finance. The issuance of GBA’s GSSS Bonds increased by 71% year-on-year in Q4 2022 and by 96% year-on-year in Q1 2023.
The average value of the GBA ESG industry Sub-indices has increased slightly over the past two quarters, hitting a record high in Q1 2023, up 6% from Q3 2022.
In the past two quarters, the ESG performance of the industrials and financials have remained at the forefront among all eight key sectors, with the healthcare sector achieving the highest rate of improvement. The consumer discretionary sector has shown a remarkable increase in ESG performance, rising by 17% in Q4 2022 and 21% in Q1 2023.
The improved ESG performance for the consumer discretionary is largely due to increasing policy support and efforts to address climate change. Green and sustainable consumption is gradually becoming the go-to choice for an increasing number of consumers, presenting both challenges and opportunities for the consumer discretionary and its sub-sectors.
